Madonna may have a song called "Vogue" but it's her occasional rival Lady Gaga who just scored her second cover on the lauded magazine - including her first trip to the top spot in the coveted September issue. Lady Gaga is a musician first but voracious fashion fan second. One upside to being Lady Gaga is that when you're constantly being photographed in crazy clothes, it's a little easier to go incognito when you want. What a moment, then, to see her staring out from the cover of the September issue of Vogue magazine.
The year's most anticipated, thanks to its comprehensive fall fashion spread, and often largest (her issue's page count is a record-breaking 916) sees Gaga shot by photography team Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott.
And that double take you just did? The Lady sees the resemblance too, to another fashion iconoclast: RuPaul.
"Who else sees me channeling @RuPaul on the COVER of VOGUE. If only I was as fierce as you," Gaga tweeted. "I did try to come for you with that weave."
Indeed Gaga seems to have the same dress proportions and hair dimensions seen often from the host of "RuPaul's Drag Race" and isn't ashamed to admit it.
Other revealing things from her Vogue cover story:
She says when she wants to "feel a little irresponsible and act like I'm nineteen," she sometimes enlists her friends' help in avoiding paparazzi -- after which she might "roll into a bar" for drinks and (occasionally topless) dancing.
She also discusses her current "Born This Way Ball" tour, why she makes music and her recently launched fragrance, Fame, in the cover story. Vogue has a few excerpts online; here are some of the choicer bits:
On her tour, and the reuse of her infamous meat dress: "We were talking about putting the show together and I said, OK, what if I was someone's grandma and I was going to a concert tonight. How would I know that it was a Gaga show? And we all just sort of looked at each other and said, 'The meat dress.'"
On her fragrance: "The fragrance is called Fame. It must be black. It must be enticing. You must want to lick and touch and feel it, but the look of it must terrify you."
On why she makes music: "I don't really make records for people to listen to and go, 'Wow, she's a genius.' I'd really like you to order a drink, maybe kiss the person you came with that evening, or rediscover something about your past that makes you feel even more brave."
Despite a hectic touring schedule, she still finds the time for some good ol' fashioned love in the sand.
"I still find time to have sex at night on the beach when no one's around. Or roll into a bar ... and dance with my top off. It's just that no one ever sees that," Gaga told Vogue, as repeated by Access Hollywood.
Talk also turned to her skinny-dipping partner, boyfriend Taylor Kinney. Can we expect little monsters of her own anytime soon?
"[I'm not looking to] settle down and live in a house yet or anything. I just want to keep riding this rainbow," she said.
Contributed to this article: Matt Donnelly & Rick Porter